Bart Woodstrup

Last Name: 
Woodstrup
First Name: 
Bart

As a computer musician, a formal training in the visual arts provided the underpinning of my approach to sonic composition, in essence remapping Kandinsky’s studies back onto sound. The sound thus becomes the articulator of my visual ideas. A synesthesia. This approach gives precedence to the sonic material for which the image is composed. The sonic material originates from conceptual strategies that often employ non-traditional ways of producing sound. I am interested in using computer programming and sensor information to generate elements of chaos and probability that will function as the performers of my music. These chaotic components produce the source material through which the conceptual nature of the work is served. The majority of my video work is created as visual support for my computer music compositions - the goal being to create a symbiotic relationship between the aural and visual elements of a piece. When I have worked in a narrative format my work has often been enveloped by an ironic overtone, resulting from an investigation of sociological peculiarities, and derived from my personal philosophies. Of particular recent interest are internet dating services, pharmaceutical commercials, NASCAR, and brand/product placement. My current video work is a live performance of real-time audio and video synthesis - often producing vignettes of realism and narrative. Bart Bridger Woodstrup, born 1973, is currently an MFA candidate at the Integrated Electronic Arts Program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York where he is studying under Pauline Oliveros, Neil Rolnick, and Curtis Bahn. Previously he was an Assistant Professor at the Illinois Institute of Art at Schaumburg and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University. He has worked in the Residency Program at the Experimental Television Center. His goals are to understand and manipulate the aesthetics, semiotics, and narratives of various time-based media. His work takes the form of real-time audio and video synthesis, installation, networked experience, and tape pieces. He has exhibited at many national and international venues as well as presented at many prestigious conferences, including SEAMUS, Siggraph, and ISEA. www.bartwoodstrup.com